Exeter Incinerator

Diana writes…

Devon County Council has contracted with Viridor to construct and operate, for 25 years, an ‘Energy from Waste’ plant. To you and me, that’s an incinerator.

Of course, the plant will create energy, but the proposals for local business to use this energy are far from thought through. Less harmful alternatives to incineration as a means of dealing with Exeter’s waste were rejected by the County Council. The Council have ploughed ahead with its construction and the plant will start operating in April 2014 – with many unanswered questions about its impact.

‘Energy from Waste’ is a positive spin on the operation of an incinerator, but there are less positive impacts that will spill out onto our communities and environment. You can read some of my concerns expressed in my letter of objection submitted in 2007 to Devon County Council at the planning application stage, and my letter to Cllr Newcombe in 2011.

So fellow Exeter citizens, and taxpayers, we’ll have to learn to live with this new addition to our landscape and, as we do, we need to ensure that the incinerator and its operation is:

safe for our health and the environment,

transparent in its operation and performance, and

financially accountable.

Exhibitions

“Particulart” in the Real Food café, Exeter, a collaboration with Diana Moore and Benjamin J Borley, 13 October to 29 November 2014.